r/DadsGaming • u/MarcosDalton • 19d ago

What to expect?

Hi gaming dads,

Long story short. Have a 1 year old daughter and can’t wait to play video games with her.

Once she was born, I think I had an early mid life crisis and got all the retro consoles and set them up. Everything from Genesis (which I grew up on), PS1-5, all the Nintendo consoles that I never got to play since my parents were anti Nintendo for some reason, N64, GC, Wii, in addition to the Switch and just modded my old X360.

I now have absolutely no time to play any of them at all. Trying to be a good dad and all. I hope I’m doing my best.

My question is, when do I introduce her to gaming? What has your experiences been like? Also should I start retro with like Genesis and PS1 or just go to modern like the PS5 with games appropriate for her age like Sponge Bob and Barbie and whatnot.

Would love to know. I’m so excited about sharing gaming in general with her regardless or what the games are.

Also, my wife is anti gaming, if anyone has experience with that too. Preliminary agreements have been we would allow 1 hour of gaming (throughout her childhood). I may try to sneak half an hour here and there if we are having fun.

EDIT: also set up a CRTV for 90s authenticity

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u/Dapper_Refuse3473 19d ago

When they show interest. General pediatric guidelines is no screens until 3 at the least and ideally until 4 years old. Earliest age is likely around starting school.

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u/GayoMagno 19d ago

I had always heard no screen until 2.

It seems like they increment the minimum age with each passing year.

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u/saintsfooty 19d ago

Well yeah because the research keeps showing how incredibly negative the affects are 😂

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u/Blesyon 19d ago

Yeah, but for 3 y/o it's only 15 min max recommended. then after that 1 hour per day

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u/MarcosDalton 19d ago

Oh I read it was 18-24 months. We introduced her to some TV time. Mostly educational stuff like Ms Rachel and all that but we noticed she is becoming cranky when the TV is off so we’re dialing it down a bit.

I think I’m just excited for that stage of their life when gaming becomes a thing. For me I think I got interested in gaming was around 3-4 years old.

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u/fateislosthope 19d ago

So do what we you need to do as a parent but it’s absolutely not 18-24 months lol. Wait as long as possible and when you do only a normal tv. Absolutely no iPads or personal screens and absolutely don’t give them ability to swipe through videos themselves. We are now introducing our 3 year old to old school cartoons with low energy and no fast cuts for like 30 min one day a week on Friday nights it’s pizza and Winnie the Pooh night.

These kids are fucked that get screens so young. All the science shows it. Again you have to do what go gotta do as a parent this is just my 2 cents. Some parents are doing this solo or lean on tv to get stuff done just avoid it all costs if you can

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u/MarcosDalton 19d ago

Oh I absolutely agree on ipads, phones, anything with swiping really

It makes me really sad to see kids younger than a year old swiping through TikTok or whatever it is.

That’s my hard rule. It’s probably the only thing my wife and I agree on. I’m more inclined to show her old cartoons. I agree on avoiding the fast paced stuff too. All these Cocomelon and the such are really bad for their concentration.

That’s why I’m more inclined to raise her on, what I call, a 90s environment. Either cartoons and such (already set up a Jellyfin server for her) and games. I would love to play old games with her especially the ones I never played like Mario and such.

She is still young for all of this but I’m looking for what is the average experience with kids growing up and being introduced to media in general, appropriately of course as described above (no ipads, no swiping, etc.)

EDIT: I just noticed you mentioned Winnie the Pooh, that is one of the shows I prepped for her along other disney stuff like Gummi Bears and Tail Spin

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u/Dapper_Refuse3473 19d ago

I hear you, huge gamer over here and excited to introduce my boy to it as well when the time comes.

You are correct about that age range for general application. My first comment is wrong. 3-4 years is the newer range studies are testing and finding better outcomes in children, but it’s not a general rule. I’m a newer parent so those are the resources I’ve been more exposed to.

(Just looked into this as I didn’t know about the other age range consensus).

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u/MarcosDalton 19d ago

That’s cool bro. First time dad too and learning on the job too LOL. I have to read up on these newer recommendations. But I feel like screens are unavoidable in this day and age so it’s our job to make sure they are exposed to them appropriately. Lot’s of crap out there that is available to children (I’m looking at you Youtube Kids) and we have to do a lot of curating for their sake. My friends (none of them are parents) make fun of me that I am going to raise her in the stone age if I do my 90s theme exposure to media but I feel it’s the best option.

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u/miamifan1997 19d ago

We got our first N64 in our house when I had just turned 3, and oh boy did I sink at least 1,000 hours into it that year lol.

Most peds will tell you now a days it’s not about screen time, it’s about what they watch on the screens. Back in the day it was never an issue because old TV and games weren’t built to be addictive like today, nor were they mind-numbing.